This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Tonneau covers have been used for a number of years to cover the cargo box of pickup trucks against dirt, debris, and other environmental contaminants and to improve the aesthetic quality thereof. Originally, tonneau covers were designed by upholstery shops and typically made of vinyl covered fabrics or canvas. The material was often doubled over along its edges for added strength and appearance. Male snaps were then attached to the sides of the cargo box of the pickup truck via fasteners, while female snaps were attached along the edges of the cover. Wooden bows were sometimes used to span the cargo box and ensure that the cover remained high enough to drain water. Unfortunately, these covers were sometimes difficult to handle and/or manufacture, and occasionally failed to protect the cargo box.
More recently, foldable tonneau covers are often more desirable in that they conveniently cover the bed of the pickup truck for cargo protection. However, when not in use, the foldable tonneau cover may be folded toward the rear of the passenger cabin (or other location). Generally, foldable tonneau covers include a frame network of cross bows, a tarp or covering operably coupled to and spanning the frame network, a latching system for coupling the frame network to the pickup truck and a means for stowing the latching system, and a hinge system for hingedly coupled adjacent sections of the foldable tonneau cover. However, the known prior art fails to maximize the ease and effectiveness of foldable tonneau covers and, thus, many foldable tonneau covers suffer from numerous disadvantages.
By way of example, existing latching systems generally employ an over center cam lock arrangement, wing nut clamp arrangement, and/or spring biased clamp arrangement to fasten the tonneau cover in place relative to the pickup truck. The latching system typically hooks onto the downwardly projecting (metal) flange of the truck bed. This latching system, in the case of the cam lock arrangement, is adjustable by rotating a threaded cam pivot to permit attachment of the latching system to pickup trucks with differing length downwardly projecting flanges. The other latching systems can used threaded portions or other telescoping type mechanisms to provide a length adjustment feature.
However, these latching systems lead to various problems or failures when used with more recent pickup truck bed designs produced by original equipment manufacturers (OEM). For instance, many of the newer pickup trucks now come with a bed cap that is installed by the OEM over the top, planar surface of the sidewalls of the pickup truck bed. That is, in some embodiments, the bed cap is made of a plastic or lightweight metal material and positioned over the top metal surface of the pickup truck sidewalls (collectively including the front wall, the sidewalls, and the tailgate). The bed caps can provide an aesthetic finish to the pickup truck bed and/or provide a degree of protection for the sidewalls from scratches and light abrasions. As mentioned, the bed caps are often made of a plastic or lightweight metal material and are often fastened to the metal sidewall flanges of the pickup truck using lightweight fastening systems, such as small fasteners or adhesives. As such, these bed caps are not intended to support any substantial load, particularly in the upward direction.
Unfortunately, many of these bed caps are sized to wrap around the top planar surface of the metal sidewall flanges of the pickup truck and extend downwardly past the inboard edge of the metal sidewall flange. This provides a neat aesthetic finish to the metal sidewall flange, but also results in the plastic or lightweight metal bed cap becoming the lowermost portion of the sidewall flange. In typical tonneau cover installations, the aforementioned latching systems connect directly to this lowermost portion of the sidewall flange. Without a bed cap, the latching system connects with the rigid and robust metal sidewall flange of the pickup bed sidewall, which is capable of withstanding the loading forces produced by these latching systems and those dynamic forces associated with vehicle operation, such as vibration, aerodynamic, and the like. However, with a bed cap, the latching system connects with the plastic or lightweight metal bed cap, thereby causing the bed cap to, at a minimum, deflect and potentially lead to distortion, breakage, and other damage.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the relevant art to permit these existing latching systems to be mounted to pickup truck sidewalls having bed caps without transferring their loading forces to the bed caps themselves.
Moreover, in some embodiments, it has also been found that in response to various dynamic forces during operation of the vehicle, the position of the tonneau system can vary or shift relative to the pickup truck bed. Conventional tonneau systems are typically held in position relative to the pickup truck bed by the frictional force produced when the latching system of the tonneau cover system is coupled with the pickup truck sidewalls.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the relevant art to provide a tonneau cover system capable of overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art. Additionally, there exists a need in the relevant art to provide a tonneau cover system that is capable of being retained in a fore, aft, and/or lateral position in response to dynamic forces using a rail retention system.